Newbie Question about Viewfinders

[highcountry]

Hi all! I recently bought a IIIf RD and a 35mm/f3.5 Summaron. I am wondering whether I actually need a 35mm viewfinder for my kit. Although I have been into photography since the mid-'60s, I never used a RF camera. Since this is the only lens that I have and knowing the internal viewfinder is optimized for a 50mm lens, does the view through the internal viewfinder show exactly what a 50mm lens will produce on film? Therefore, the internal viewfinder crops what my 35mm lens will produce on film?

I will be scanning and digitizing the photos which gives some latitude in post processing.

Thanks for any assistance!

 

[maddoc]

The VF of the III Leicas shows only the field of view of a 50mm lens so an external VF is very helpful.

 

[Steve M.]

I think a dedicated view finder for your lens would be helpful, but it depends on how you use the camera. The camera's 50mm viewfinder will crop what you think you're getting on film, but better to have more than you thought then less. You can always crop the shot. It isn't as easy stitching in the rest of your mother in law's head on the edge of the frame.

If you're mostly using the camera for out and about shooting it may be fine as it is, as it's usually easier to stop it down and go w/ zone focusing for that anyway.

Congratulations on your new camera. It will be very different and rewarding shooting w/ it, and that Summaron, if it's clean, is a gem.

 

[batterytypehah!]

Welcome to the forum! I wear glasses and that makes the internal VF on my IIIf very hard to use. In practical terms, I'm guessing the outside of the frame more than I see it. For my 35 lens, I always use an external VF.

No need to spend much, either. I used a Petri accessory finder for a while that was part of a set of auxiliary tele and wide lenses for one of their fixed lens RF cameras. The "wide" frameline was very close to an actual 35mm view. These sets were popular at one time and show up regularly on ebay. Price in a straight auction should not exceed $20. Yashica is another common brand.

Or, you can make your own practically for free: http://jay.fedka.com/index_files/Page358.htm

 

[Luddite Frank]

A good investment would be one of the multi-focal finders. I do not particularly care for the Leica "Imarect" finder for a user, as it works by cropping down the VF image as you dial down from 35mm. At 135, the view is microscopic.

I favor "zoom" finders, such as the Tewe "Poly-focus" or Nikon "Varifocal", or a turret finder such as used on the Contax rangefinders or their Russian counter-parts (still squint-ier than the Zoom finders).

If you only want a dedicated finder for 35mm, you can get them; again the Russian copies for Fed / Zorki are probably cheapest.

Check out Fedka's site...

If you're going to try to shoot 35mm lens with the camera's built-in 50 mm VF, plan on doing some cropping in photoshop...

 

[Paul Luscher]

Depends in part what lenses you are going to use. The lenses I use on my IIIf run the gamut from 28mm to 90 mm, so something like an Imarect finder or a Tewe Polyfocus finder works for me. (FYI: these finders allow you to set various angles of view corresponding to a 35mm lens up through a 135mm lens.)

 

[rogerzilla]

The screwmount viewfinder is accurate for a 50mm lens - at least, my photos look pretty tightly composed - and leaves very little to spare.

I would seek out a 3.5cm Russian finder. They have no brightlines but are very good to use. About 30-40GBP secondhand compared to the 150GBP being asked for the nicer Voigtlander version. If you want a universal finder, I don't rate the Leitz ones, having owned the VIDOM and VIOOH at some point. The Russian "gatling gun" finder works much better although it's heavy and unwieldy on a little Leica.

 

[highcountry]

Thanks for the responses! Currently, my plan is to use the 35mm and down the road, pick up a 50mm. But you never know when I might have a GAS attack. BTW, my Summaron is very nice.

Again, thanks.